George H.W. Bush privately thought that Nancy Reagan was jealous of his wife because she would 'never be in Barbara's class'.

The explosive new details coming out in the first full biography about the 41st President of the United States.

Bush, who was Vice President under Reagan, felt that the First Lady was envious because his family were old WASP society, while the Reagans were nouveau riche and from Hollywood.

But Nancy was snobbish as well and felt that she and her husband were the 'stars' of the White House and that the Bushes were the 'supporting actors'.

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Playing nice: First Lady Nancy Reagan signs a guest book while Barbara Bush, President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush entertain Bush's Golden Cocker Spaniel in 1981

White House tension: New Bush biography reveals Nancy Reagan was jealous of Barbara Bush because 'in Nancy's mind there could only one leading couple in Washington'

In Nancy's mind there could 'only one leading couple' in Washington and she wanted to make sure the Bushes 'knew their place'.

Such was the animosity between the First and Second Lady that Barbara did not even go to Nancy's side after the assassination attempt on Reagan.

The Bushes and the Reagans were thrown together in the White House after the 1980 Presidential election campaign.

Bush ran against Reagan for the Republican nomination but conceded defeat before the end of the contest.

Reagan was considering asking former President Gerald Ford to be his Vice President but at the last minute he changed his mind and offered it to Bush, who accepted and stayed in the post for Reagan's two terms between 1981 and 1989.

Family first: Vice President George H.W. Bush and Barbara sit with two of their 17 grandchildren in 1988 in Houston, Texas

That meant Bush now had to work with a man who he had spent months attacking on policies like abortion and equal rights for women,

In 'Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush' author Jon Meacham writes that things started out well between the two families.

Shortly after Reagan nominated Bush, Barbara told him 'You're not going to be sorry. We're going to work our tails off for you.'

But pleasantries masked the fact that the First Lady and Second Lady were two very different women from very different backgrounds.

Meacham writes that Nancy had a 'restrained but real hostility' towards the Bushes and especially Barbara that was grounded in class and money.

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There was 'lingering anger' over the Presidential campaign in 1980 and cultural differences because the Reagans were linked to Hollywood and a system of celebrity that was supplanting great American families like the Bushes.

Meacham writes: 'In the Reagan Hollywood universe there could be only one leading couple.

'In the Washington of 1981-89, Ronald and Nancy were the stars, and the supporting actors, George and Barbara Bush, were to stay deep in the background.

'Ever vigilant and prone to worrying, Nancy wanted to make certain that the Bushes knew their place'.

Neither party seems to have missed a chance to take a jab at the other one.

As Reagan faced off against Jimmy Carter at a Presidential debate in October 1980, Meacham writes that Barbara leaned over the Nancy and said: 'I think (Reagan) looks so much better than Carter. His makeup is better'.

Nancy replied: 'Ronnie never wears makeup'.

Private thoughts: 'Nancy does not like Barbara. She feels that Barbara has the very things she, Nancy, doesn't have, and that she'll never be in Barbara's class,' wrote George H.W. Bush in his diary

Even when Reagan was shot and nearly killed in an assassination attempt in March 1981, Barbara did not go to her side.

Meacham writes that Barbara said to him in an interview: 'I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My heart ached so for Nancy.

'I knew that the best thing I could do for her was to stay away; what she needed was a best friend'.

Barbara knew that she was a long way from best friend material.

Bush himself knew there was a problem and shared his private thoughts in his diary.

In June 1988 he wrote: 'Nancy does not like Barbara. She feels that Barbara has the very things she, Nancy, doesn't have, and that she'll never be in Barbara's class.

Like father, like son: In 1978, George W. Bush announced his candidacy for a House seat in Texas and George H.W. sported a t-shirt referencing his son's campaign

'Bar has sensed it for a long time. Barbara is so generous, so kind, so unselfish and frankly I think Nancy is jealous of her'

Friends of the Bushes and the Reagans supposedly told Bush: 'Nancy couldn't see any family living in the White House after theirs, and that's the way she felt about it'.

'Destiny and Power' also features prescient conversations between the Bush family about how Jeb and George W can deal with their father's legacy.

In 1978, when George W was 31 he announced his candidacy for a House seat in Texas, Meacham writes.

Explosive details: Biography writes about how George H.W. felt Nancy Reagan was jealous of his wife Barbara over their WASP family background

But his mother worried that what it would mean for his relationship with his father.

She wrote in her diary: 'I wonder if George Bush Jr. understands just how difficult it is to have two people thinking about running for office in one family.

'It reminds me of the time that George took all the heat when his father was in the US Senate and voted against the oil industry'.

Tensions between the family boiled over again in 1980 when Bush's campaign against Reagan failed.

While the Bush family was starting to accept they had lost Meacham writes that Jeb 'pounded his fist into his other hand'.

Jeb said: 'This isn't fair, Dad. This isn't fair to you...'

Bush cut him off and said: 'What are you talking about, fair?

'Nobody owes us a damn thing. We're going to leave this city with our heads high and I don't want to hear that anymore'.

In extracts already made public Bush has raised eyebrows when he lashed out at some of George W's closest aides and said that they gave his son bad advice while he was in office.

Bush said that Donald Rumsfeld, his son's Defense Secretary, had an 'iron-ass view of everything' that was damaging.

Bush said that Dick Cheney, George W's vice president, was one of the 'real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East.'

Surprisingly, Bush also said that his son's use of the phrase 'axis of evil' to describe threats to the US was a mistake because it 'historically proved to be not benefiting anything'.

HOW JEB'S MARRIAGE MADE DRUNKEN GEORGE W. BUSH CRASH HIS CAR

George W. Bush crashed his car into some trash cans outside his family home the day after Christmas in 1973 because he was upset at Jeb suddenly announcing he was to get married.

According to the book, George W could not deal with the fact his brother had found the love of his life while he was still single and purposeless at 27.

Barbara wrote in her diary: 'He says that he drank so much because he was upset over Jeb.'

As Meacham describes the incident, Bush was a student at Harvard Business School at the time and when he arrived home his mother said: 'Your behavior is disgraceful'.

A mother's worry: 'I wonder if George Bush Jr. understands just how difficult it is to have two people thinking about running for office in one family,' Barbara Bush wrote in her diary

She sent him upstairs to see his father and charged into the room, defiantly putting his hands on his hips and saying: 'I understand you want to see me'.

Bush lowered the book he was reading and gave his son the look that made him know he had to back down.

The incident has been reported before; George W supposedly told his father: 'You want to go mano a mano right here?'

But the reason for George W's behavior has not been explained and it has been chalked up to youthful fun.

Barbara wrote in her diary: 'All I know is that he challenged his dad and backed down'.

BARBARA: MY FEARS FOR JEB AND THE MEXICAN FROM A BROKEN HOME

Barbara Bush was deeply concerned about Jeb marrying a Mexican from a broken home.

She felt that Columba Garnica de Gallo was 'unknown' to her and worried that her son had made a rash decision on proposing in 1973.

She wrote in her diary: 'How I worry about Jeb and Columba. Does she love him? I know when I'll meet her I'll stop worrying'.

Deeply concerned: Barbara Bush worried that Jeb made a 'rash decision' to marry Columba Garnica de Gallo, 'a Mexican from a broken home,' new biography reveals

Mom's approval: Barbara was so impressed with Columba she gave her her grandmother's wedding ring. Jeb and Columba married in February 1974

Jeb had met Columba while a senior at Andover College in 1970 when he spent several months in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Bush was also anxious about his son's adventures and wrote in his diary: 'Jebby is going to need some help I am sure.

'He is a free and independent spirit and I don't want him to get totally out of touch with the family'.

When Barbara met Columba, all her concerns evaporated and she thought she was a 'great influence' on Jeb, helping him to do well in his studies.

In fact, Barbara was so impressed with her that she gave her her grandmother Pierce's wedding ring and they got married in February 1974.

'BITTER, JEALOUS, DESPERATE, SON OF A B****': WHAT H.W. REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT BOB DOLE

Bush hated Bob Dole so much that he called him a 'no good son of a b***h' in a private memo while campaigning against him in 1988.

The two men squared off for the Republican nomination in a bitter battle marked by negative campaigning and personal attacks.

Bitter battle: Bush hated Bob Dole so much he called him a 'no good son of a b***h', as well as a 'desperate, mean man'

In March of that year after Bush defeated Dole in the South Carolina primary, he said in his dictated memo that he was sleeping much better because he was in the lead.

He said: 'He's a desperate, mean man, and people see it.

'I'll try and be gracious but he had been a no good son of a b***h about me, hitting me at every turn, bitter, jealous, and class-conscious hatred.

'It's too bad, I've never felt that way about him at all, and yet, no I've seen this ugly side'.

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush is available on Amazon.

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Nancy Reagan was jealous of Barbara Bush, biography of George HW reveals